1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of ergonomic supports for automobile seats.
2. Related Art
There is a continuing need in the field of ergonomic supports for seats in motor vehicles and other transportation vehicles for increasing the economy and efficiency of the components used to provide ergonomic support, while at the same time increasing comfort and safety for the passenger. It is desirable to reduce the size of the package of components necessary to provide ergonomic support, both in terms of overall volume and front to back depth of the ergonomic support in a retracted position.
Safety advances for transportation vehicle seats have recently developed to include airbags and other design features directed towards enhancing the safety and reducing the likelihood of injury to a passenger during a crash. Many of these devices, such as airbags, rely to a certain extent on a predicable position of a passenger during a crash. Most often, this is centered in the seat and upright. Accordingly, there is a need in the field for a device that will assist in maintaining a passenger comfortably in a predicted, centered position in a seat.
Passenger comfort not only encompasses sitting in the seat, but entering and leaving the car or other transportation vehicle. It is advantageous during ingress and egress for the ergonomic supports to be retracted and as thin as possible.